


Cleaning

by frankcastlesfemfeb (Deathtouch)



Category: Marvel, Marvel (Comics), Marvel 616, X-23 (Comic), X-Men (Comicverse)
Genre: Cute, Emotionally Repressed, Emotions, F/F, Friendship/Love, Kindness, Service, Sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-13
Updated: 2015-11-13
Packaged: 2018-05-01 09:17:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5200439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Deathtouch/pseuds/frankcastlesfemfeb
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>|Random Femslash Req| |Drabble|<br/><i>notbrianna asked:</i> this might be a dumb question, but do x-23's claws ever need servicing? maybe you could write a fic around that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cleaning

**Author's Note:**

> unbeta'd! all mistakes are my own.  
> takes place during/around X-23 (2010-2012)

Laura used a toothbrush to clean her claws. It felt a little silly, but it worked. She used warm water too, but it was the gentle bristles that worked away anything that got built up in the blades. She was better cleaning the claws on her left hand than she was at cleaning the ones on her right, but they had trained her to be ambidextrous a long time ago. In the end both sets of claws came out clear, and sparkling. 

Adamantium didn’t need to be honed or sharpened. It was near impossible for the edges to lose their sharpness. Laura had never seen a nick or cut in any of her claws but sometimes she sharpened them any way. She wasn’t sure if it made a real difference, but the effort and labor she put into it made her feel good and that was more important than the actual results.

She was still learning a lot about making herself feel good, and it was a hard lesson to learn. For right now it started with warm water, and a tooth brush, and a ceramic stone.

Laura was in the middle of taking off her shoes, and freeing her toes from her socks when Jubilee barged in. Technically Jubilee had knocked first, but didn’t wait even half a second for a reply, just pushed the door open and waltzed in like she owned the place.

“Hey, X.” She grinned. “What’cha up to?”

Jubilee liked to spend time with Laura. Sometimes all they did was spend time in each other’s company. They didn’t go anywhere or do anything. They just sat curled up on the bed or snuggled on the couch and wasted hours pressed together. Jubilee seemed to like it, and Laura didn’t mind it so they spent a lot of time together like that. Sometimes they went on adventures, too. Shopping, or out dancing, or wherever else Jubilee wanted to go. Laura didn’t mind that either, but she liked spending time in comfortable silence much better.

Except right now she was busy, and she blushed at the intrusion. She almost attempted to hide the toothbrush, because she wasn’t sure how else to explain it, but she decided against it at the last second. 

“Nothing.” Laura said, stiffly.

Jubilee was already at her side, sitting right next to her. She didn’t seem to notice the messy way Laura had left her shoes and socks just laying in the floor, but she did notice Laura’s bare feet. Jubilee nudged one of them with her own foot and practically giggled. 

“Look at your toes!” She teased. Then a real exciting idea must have occurred to her because she gasped. “We should paint them! Please! Please let me!”

Laura didn’t like the idea, and despite Jubilee tugging on her arm she shook her head. “No, no thank you. I’m busy.”

“Busy?” Jubilee didn’t believe it for a second. “You told me you weren’t doing anything when I walked in.”

She had Laura there, but Laura simply remained stoic. The thing about Jubilee was that she never took no for an answer. She liked to poke, and prod, and ask questions and sometimes it was annoying but most the time Laura just needed to know that someone actually wanted to listen before opening up a little. If Jubilee pressed for information, it meant she really wanted to hear it. At least that’s the way it was in Laura’s mind, and that’s what made it easy to give in.

“I was cleaning.” Laura admitted.

Jubilee nudged her and laughed. “You kidding, X? You’re the neatest person I know, couldn’t make a mess if you tried.”

Laura actually took pride in that. Her expression turned pleased for a second, but only a second. “No. Not my room.”

She still felt a little silly about it, but she unsheathed her claws with a soft ‘snikt’ and showed Jubilee the way they gleamed. Laura took pride in her job well done. She would scarcely feel comfortable showing her work to anyone else, but she didn’t mind showing Jubilee.

“Woah, careful with those things.” Jubilee warned her, but she reached out for Laura’s hand to turn it over. Her claws caught the lamplight, reflecting it perfectly. “Hey, they do look more formidable!” she decided.

“I’m not finished.” Laura told her. Her foot might have twitched subconsciously, or maybe Jubilee just connected the dots on her own because she made an excited noise again.

“Oh! Can I help?” She asked, as eager as anything.

Laura might have felt silly before but she was definitely blushing now. “I…” It wouldn’t be so bad, it was just… no one had ever… she cleaned them herself. She always had.

“Please! If you’re not going to let me paint your toe nails at least let me do this?” Jubilee looked and sounded so sincere. As if she really wanted to.

Laura gave in to her. Jubilee just had that way about her, where she made it so easy to give in. “You could try it?”

That was how Jubilee ended up on the floor, sitting cross legged at Laura’s feet. Laura unsheathed her claw nice and slow, not wanting any accidents to happen. Once it was fully extended she tentatively handed over the toothbrush. Jubilee started to work scrubbing tiny circles into the adamantium.

Jubilee talked as she worked. She talked about Wolverine’s claws, and the few times she’d seen him clean them. She talked about her day. She talked about why she liked the color blue. She talked about how much fun they could have planting a tree. All the anecdotes were connected somehow, interwoven into a full conversation and story but Laura had a hard time listening. Not that she didn’t like listening to Jubilee, it was just that this was the first time someone else was cleaning her claws. It felt so weird. Not exactly bad either, but definitely weird.

Jubilee took her time, and when she was satisfied she wiggled her fingers and said “Ta-da.”

She’d done an amazing job.

“Thank you.” Laura breathed, lifting her foot and turning her ankle to have a good look. She felt a lump in her throat and she didn’t know why.

Laura must had had a look on her face, because Jubilee reached out for her, touching her leg kindly. “X?”

“I’m sorry.” Laura swallowed, stiffening.

“Hey, it’s okay.” Jubilee told her. “You can talk to me, you know. That’s what I’m here for.”

Laura nodded. She knew that, it was just so much easier said then done. She opened her mouth to say something, but the words wouldn’t come so she closed it again. It was okay though, because Jubilee waited patiently to hear whatever was brewing.

“You’re the first person to do that.” Laura told her, after she gathered up her wits and nerve.

“I am?” Jubilee asked in surprise.

Laura nodded.

“You know I like doing stuff for you, right?” Jubilee told her.

There was that lump in Laura’s throat again.

“It makes me happy when you’re happy.” Jubilee scooched across the floor to Laura’s other foot, waiting patiently for the other claw to come unsheathed.

“I like it when you’re happy too.” Laura practically blurted.

Jubilee was perfect though, because she never made a big deal out of Laura’s unexpected emotions or unique way of feeling things. She just smiled. “That’s why we make a good pair.” She said.

Laura couldn’t help but think that there were no words more true.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading!  
> feel free to comment here or chat me up on tumblr http://frankcastles.tumblr.com/ask


End file.
